Environmental backslide under Trump: New policies put the environment at risk

Environmental backslide under Trump: New policies put the environment at risk

Submitted by Noah LeFevre on January 25, 2017 - 1:59pm

Within a week of Donald Trump’s inauguration, he has already made drastic changes that affect the environment. After appointing a leader of the EPA who does not believe in climate change prior to the inauguration, Trump’s administration has made several strides in the wrong direction.

Immediately following his inauguration, Trump revamped the White House website, removing any portions of the website containing information on climate change and the environment. These were both prominent on the website during Barack Obama's presidency.

He also has silenced those government agencies which are in place to preserve the environment, such as the EPA, and the Department of the Interior. The EPA was directed to not post anything on social media and has been told that employees are not to speak to reporters. Similarly, the President shut down the Department of the Interior twitter account after posts that he did not agree with. Many are reporting that important data collected by government agencies may be deleted if it includes scientific evidence of climate change.

Trump has also issued an executive order to advance the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. Opening these pipelines will increase greenhouse gas emmisions, threaten the nation's water supply, and represent a huge setback for the environmental justice movement. The proposed Dakota Access Pipeline crosses the Ogallala aquifer, one of the world's largest freshwater aquifers which supplies freshwater to much of the Midwest. It also would cross the Missouri river twice, which feeds into the Mississippi and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. A spill that polluted either the Ogallala aquifer or the Missouri river would create disasterous results. President Trump owns stock in the pipeline projects, and will profit from their creation.

Stay tuned for more news on President Trump's attack on the environment.